Changing Culture: 5 Principles for Interdependent Leadership

11 October 2018:

What does it take for a company to set and execute strategy in a complex and interdependent world?

Collaborative work across boundaries is increasingly seen as a requirement, but collaboration in most organizations isn’t a natural act. A shift in thinking — alongside a change in behaviors — is usually needed for genuinely collaborative work.

But history and experience suggest that accepted change management techniques aren’t up to the task of transforming the way we work.

What’s needed is a culture-change process that combines leadership strategy with business strategy. Changing culture is about changing minds.

We recommend an approach to organizational culture change based on 5 principles, 4 phases, and 3 types of leadership culture.

5 Principles of Organizational Culture Change

1. Culture change is a guided, public-learning process. People can’t simply be “managed” into change. Culture change requires guides who become trusted partners, help steer change, and engage in a learning process.

Public learning includes truth-telling, revealing mistakes, admitting when you don’t have all the answers, and sharing confusion and even uncomfortable emotions. This is an inside-out experience of our imagination, emotions, and human spirit.